Is Raiders stadium roof proposal over the top?

Updated 8:19 am, Wednesday, July 30, 2014

An artist's rendering shows the transparent roof on the new Minnesota Vikings stadium. Something like it is under consideration in Oakland.

An artist's rendering shows the transparent roof on the new Minnesota Vikings stadium. Something like it is under consideration in Oakland.

Photo: Uncredited, Associated Press

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A wide shot of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum during the World Series on October 1972 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Focus On Sport/Getty Images)

A wide shot of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum during the World Series on October 1972 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Focus On Sport/Getty Images)

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Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics warms up before a game in an undated photo at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics warms up before a game in an undated photo at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

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The Coliseum in 1969: Outfielder Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics sits on top of the dugout signing autographs.

The Coliseum in 1969: Outfielder Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics sits on top of the dugout signing autographs.

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Members of the Oakland Raiders offense huddle in the end zone during the game against the Green Bay Packers at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum on October 24, 1976.

Members of the Oakland Raiders offense huddle in the end zone during the game against the Green Bay Packers at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum on October 24, 1976.

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Head coach John Madden of the Oakland Raiders watches the action from the sidelines during a game in the early-1970's at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium.

Head coach John Madden of the Oakland Raiders watches the action from the sidelines during a game in the early-1970's at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium.

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Fans at O.co Coliseum watch an NFL preseason football game between the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Aug. 13, 2012.

Fans at O.co Coliseum watch an NFL preseason football game between the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys in Oakland, Calif., Monday, Aug. 13, 2012.

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Oakland A's fans bring out the paintings as they celebrate a home run Monday May 27, 2013.

Oakland A's fans bring out the paintings as they celebrate a home run Monday May 27, 2013.

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Is Raiders stadium roof proposal over the top?

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Planners for a new, largely privately financed Oakland Raiders stadium are considering something even more ambitious than the towering seats of Mount Davis - a retractable or transparent roof.

Sources involved in putting a proposal together tell us that, given the $900 million to $1.2 billion cost of a new stadium, they're aiming for a building that can host not just sporting events but also concerts, conventions and other functions that require dry weather.

Still, there's a catch. Planners tell us they are still trying to determine if they could attract enough such events to justify the added cost - anywhere from $100 million to $200 million or more, depending on the type of roof. There's the retractable kind, which is in place on several stadiums around the country, and newfangled clear roofs like the one going up on the Minnesota Vikings' new stadium.

Then there are the Raiders, who would prefer an open-air stadium with natural turf. And just to make sure no one forgets about them, team brass - including owner Mark Davis- reportedly just spent a few days in San Antonio, Texas, putting out relocation feelers just in case the Oakland situation doesn't work out.

The roof-or-no-roof debate is just one of the many points to be worked out by planners for Coliseum City, the stadium-retail-housing complex that Mayor Jean Quanwants to get built at the site of the existing stadium and arena. The clock is ticking down on Quan's promise to have a new Raiders stadium deal worked out by summer's end.

Other issues with the multibillion-dollar building scheme:

-- Who pays the estimated $100 million to $150 million in infrastructure costs to prepare the Coliseum area for a new development?

-- Who pays the $100 million it will likely cost to retire the city's and Alameda County's debt on the existing stadium?

-- And how should the roughly 150 acres of city and county land around the Coliseum - worth around $250 million - be turned over to private developers to build the complex? Should it be offered at full price? Leased on the cheap? Given away for free?

Bottom line, the deal still has lots of costly and moving parts - not the least of which is getting the Raiders to officially join the effort.

Pay up: Having bailed on his run for secretary of state, suspended state Sen. Leland Yeeis using his healthy campaign account to pay the legal bills he's running up in his federal criminal case.

The San Francisco Democrat - who got 380,000 votes in the June primary, even though he had dropped out after being indicted - has about $350,000 remaining in his campaign account.

Sources say Yee intends to use the money to pay his defense lawyers - something that's allowed under state law.

There is one pile of campaign money, however, that Yee won't be able to touch - the more than $30,000 he got from a half-dozen contributors who turned out to be undercover FBI agents seeking to bribe Yee.

Those checks bounced.

PG&E-mail: Every big news story needs a catchy nugget to sum up what all the fuss is about - and for the city of San Bruno, it was the "love you" e-mail from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. executive Laura Doll to CarolBrown, chief of staff to California's top utilities regulator, Michael Peevey.

The two-word message was culled from 7,000 e-mails by a team of lawyers and public relations experts who spent weeks looking for the image to hammer home the city's charge that the California Public Utilities Commission, under Peevey's leadership, is too close to the utility to be an effective watchdog.

Although most of the e-mails dealt with financial matters, it was the personal exchanges that took center stage at Monday's press conference called by San Bruno officials.

"It's hard to explain finances to the public," said Sam Singer, the public relations pro who has been coaching city officials on how to maximize attention for their call for a $2 billion-plus fine against PG&E for the 2010 gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people.

"These e-mails did a much better job of showing the clearly cozy relationship," Singer said.

How cozy? Doll, the PG&E executive who sent the "love you" e-mail to her counterpart at the state agency, used to work at the utilities commission.

A-way: San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed isn't sweating over the A's new 10-year lease with Oakland, telling us "it doesn't make any difference" to his long-term goal of luring the team to the South Bay.

"It's good news for the A's because it gives them a place to play," Reed said Tuesday as the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved the lease. "But it doesn't make any difference to what we are doing in San Jose."

The mayor added, "I had breakfast with (A's co-owner) Lew Wolff at the Fairmont hotel a couple of week back, and Lew was still optimistic about San Jose. He still wants a deal and he still thinks it will happen."

As for Wolff's statements that he is seriously looking at staying in Oakland, Reed said, "He has been saying that all along. But San Jose is still the best deal for the team and the best deal for Major League Baseball."

The trouble is, Major League Baseball has been silent on the idea for five years, and counting.

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